Seattle Sounders 2018 Season

[Glasgow Seahawk]

Leicester was a once in a life time thing. Even Blackburn in '95 were a mini Man City at the time and bought the league

Yes I think its becoming like that in Europe. It's becoming the same teams every year in the CL.

Serie A- Juventus are on what 7 in a row, France- PSG, Spain- Real or Barcelona, maybe Athletico rarely, England- Chelsea or City

It's the usual top guns.

At least before tv money it was more cyclical. Now the top teams just vaccuum up talent from the likes of Portugal and Brazil before the likes of Ajax can build good teams.

As for MLS, I do wonder what happens to MLS once expansion fees stop. Will the league ever be profitable or will teams eventually fold.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

if not.. the next Sargents, McKennies, Pulisics, Weahs will skip from their academies over the domestic league and straight to Europe while MLS teams will still be hoping 33 year old forwards are willing to play in a "glorified rec league" for an easy payday. .

You've done nothing but say every USMNT player should play overseas in upper tier leagues in order to get the best training and development. You've even gone as far as to criticize players like Dempsey, Bradley, Altidore, etc from staying in Europe for big paydays in MLS.

So which is it? Do you want our young players going to Europe, or do you want them to stay here?

There in lies the rub Si. Sure, we can probably stop paying the Villas and Dempseys 5-6M a year to be MLS DP's, and try and keep and pay Pulisic that type of money to stay.........but then Christian is playing with and against 2nd and 3rd tier competition.

You can criticize the MLS all you want for how it goes about their rosters, but if you get rid of the older star DP's and try and transfer that salary expenditure to keep our young stars, you're going to fail.........because again, a 5-10M cap MLS team will never be able to compete with a 150-200M cap club in Europe in salary, competition or prestige.

Our best bet is the Yedlin, Morris, Jones route where we try to hold onto those young stars for a year, help them mature, get their feet wet in the pro game, then send them off to hopefully develop into great USMNT players. To think we can hold onto those players their entire careers is naive. It's not good for them, and it's not good for our national program.

 

[Uncle Si]

if not.. the next Sargents, McKennies, Pulisics, Weahs will skip from their academies over the domestic league and straight to Europe while MLS teams will still be hoping 33 year old forwards are willing to play in a "glorified rec league" for an easy payday. .

You've done nothing but say every USMNT player should play overseas in upper tier leagues in order to get the best training and development. You've even gone as far as to criticize players like Dempsey, Bradley, Altidore, etc from staying in Europe for big paydays in MLS.

So which is it? Do you want our young players going to Europe, or do you want them to stay here?

There in lies the rub Si. Sure, we can probably stop paying the Villas and Dempseys 5-6M a year to be MLS DP's, and try and keep and pay Pulisic that type of money to stay.........but then Christian is playing with and against 2nd and 3rd tier competition.

You can criticize the MLS all you want for how it goes about their rosters, but if you get rid of the older star DP's and try and transfer that salary expenditure to keep our young stars, you're going to fail.........because again, a 5-10M cap MLS team will never be able to compete with a 150-200M cap club in Europe in salary, competition or prestige.

Our best bet is the Yedlin, Morris, Jones route where we try to hold onto those young stars for a year, help them mature, get their feet wet in the pro game, then send them off to hopefully develop into great USMNT players. To think we can hold onto those players their entire careers is naive. It's not good for them, and it's not good for our national program.

I want USMNT players to go overseas because the domestic league is mediocre. Figured that was clear.

The MLS cap isn't the issue. Look at the top 10 highest paid players in this league. Look at their salary compared to say, Lodeiro, and then come back to me with what those players add.

Imagine being able to have 4/5 Lodeiro type players on a team, instead of 2 aging DPs who arent all that interested in the league.

It's not "the rub" its the direction the league has chosen... again, look at Atlanta and LAFC for the way forward.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

Imagine being able to have 4/5 Lodeiro type players on a team, instead of 2 aging DPs who arent all that interested in the league..

Lodeiro is our highest paid player this year, so not sure what you mean. He makes 1.9M, which means he's a DP, and you can still only have three DP's, whether they're making 1.9M, or 7M. Doesn't jibe with your "let's have four or five 1.9M players roster building philosophy."

and if you look at our roster vs Atlanta's, they're very similar in makeup, a good mix of quality youth and older vets. As are most MLS rosters.

Our problem is our two best younger players (Morris, Rodriguez) haven't been playing...........and the two or three "young DP" type players we've targeted since the winter, we haven't been able to pull the trigger on.

 

[Uncle Si]

Imagine being able to have 4/5 Lodeiro type players on a team, instead of 2 aging DPs who arent all that interested in the league..

Lodeiro is our highest paid player this year, so not sure what you mean. He makes 1.9M, which means he's a DP, and you can still only have three DP's, whether they're making 1.9M, or 7M. Doesn't jibe with your "let's have four or five 1.9M players roster building philosophy."

and if you look at our roster vs Atlanta's, they're very similar in makeup, a good mix of quality youth and older vets. As are most MLS rosters.

Our problem is our two best younger players (Morris, Rodriguez) haven't been playing...........and the two or three "young DP" type players we've targeted since the winter, we haven't been able to pull the trigger on.

So two players go out and you find yourself 17 points from the top? Jordan Morris had 3 goals last year in 22 starts. I know he was injured, but i'd say the problems with the roster go deeper.

I digress because I don't care too much about the Sounders. I am more interested in the league.

Salary disparity: Lodeiro is on 45K. Baston is on 119K. This is a league wide problem. So instead of 4/5, have 3. the concept is the same. argue semantics all you want. The top 10 highest paid players in the league are all 30+ except one (29 year old Carlos Vela). Lodeiro, who is 11th (29 years old), makes 3x less than the highest. #12 is Miguel Almiron, with Atlanta, who is 24. You have to go 12 more spots to find a player (Felipe Guiterrez) under the age of 28, making 32K for Sporting. Both Sporting and Atlanta top their leagues. The next 8 after him are older than 30. The top 35 highest paid players in the MLS are 29+ except 4.

Back to the Sounders, they have 7 players over the age of 30, and with Lodeiro at 29 years of age it's pretty easy to see both the imbalance and issues the club have. The rosters are not "similar" as Atlanta and LAFC are using young players (they barely have up and running academies at this time as well) that are essential to their success. Seattle and Toronto, last year's MLS Cup teams, are not. Long may the Atlantas and LAFCs continue to prosper. This is not to bash the Sounders, but the model they found to be successful is one that I think is holding the league back.

The window is there. look through it or not. It's unfortunate the league will lose out on the next crop of young American players. My issue with the league has always been its stature as a resting place for big names and that stifles it's growth potential. It's expanding, and the last two expansion teams have done well with their rosters. Im just hoping the MLS will purge itself of this need to spend its limited funds on high profile players who dont offer much to the league's growth. To do that, teams will need to start to reward potential. It's stable enough that the product should be more important now than the names on the jersey. Maybe i'm being naive.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

This is not to bash the Sounders, but the model they found to be successful is one that I think is holding the league back. .

It's not the model that the Sounders and Toronto found to be successful, it IS the model of success in MLS.

You watch, all these young CONCACAF stars that LAFC and Atlanta signed are going to be gone in 1-3 years. The only sustainable model of success is what clubs like the Sounders, Galaxy and Toronto are doing, find 2-3 DP's that can still play at a high MLS level, AND surround them with as many quality players (young and old) as possible.

The only way you model works Si is if the MLS raises it's 4M cap to 20-30M to compete with the next level of leagues like the Mexican Primera, Arg Primera, Super League, Primiera Liga, etc.

Which I think we will in the next 10-20 years if MLS keeps expanding and growing. That's the only way MLS can compete to sign and more importantly keep the younger CONCACAF stars, and even sign younger Euro quality players as well.

 

[Uncle Si]

This is not to bash the Sounders, but the model they found to be successful is one that I think is holding the league back. .

It's not the model that the Sounders and Toronto found to be successful, it IS the model of success in MLS.

You watch, all these young CONCACAF stars that LAFC and Atlanta signed are going to be gone in 1-3 years. The only sustainable model of success is what clubs like the Sounders, Galaxy and Toronto are doing, find 2-3 DP's that can still play at a high MLS level, AND surround them with as many quality players (young and old) as possible.

The only way you model works Si is if the MLS raises it's 4M cap to 20-30M to compete with the next level of leagues like the Mexican Primera, Arg Primera, Super League, Primiera Liga, etc.

Which I think we will in the next 10-20 years if MLS keeps expanding and growing. That's the only way MLS can compete to sign and more importantly keep the younger CONCACAF stars, and even sign younger Euro quality players as well.

I dont know Sgt. The matches i've been to this Spring has shown me the quality of play is ok, maybe even a little better than years past. But the attacking 3rd play just lacks so much energy, innovation and clinical finishing. These aging stars on the list I provided are not the quality the league needs. It needs younger attacking players. I get older players in the back, or in net. I think MLS and soccer fans in the US are expecting more, and youth players deserve more from the domestic league.

Will be an interesting summer across all the leagues.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

This is not to bash the Sounders, but the model they found to be successful is one that I think is holding the league back. .

It's not the model that the Sounders and Toronto found to be successful, it IS the model of success in MLS.

You watch, all these young CONCACAF stars that LAFC and Atlanta signed are going to be gone in 1-3 years. The only sustainable model of success is what clubs like the Sounders, Galaxy and Toronto are doing, find 2-3 DP's that can still play at a high MLS level, AND surround them with as many quality players (young and old) as possible.

The only way you model works Si is if the MLS raises it's 4M cap to 20-30M to compete with the next level of leagues like the Mexican Primera, Arg Primera, Super League, Primiera Liga, etc.

Which I think we will in the next 10-20 years if MLS keeps expanding and growing. That's the only way MLS can compete to sign and more importantly keep the younger CONCACAF stars, and even sign younger Euro quality players as well.

I dont know Sgt. The matches i've been to this Spring has shown me the quality of play is ok, maybe even a little better than years past. But the attacking 3rd play just lacks so much energy, innovation and clinical finishing. These aging stars on the list I provided are not the quality the league needs. It needs younger attacking players. I get older players in the back, or in net. I think MLS and soccer fans in the US are expecting more, and youth players deserve more from the domestic league.

Will be an interesting summer across all the leagues.

Of course, and that's always been a problem in any league, because like great QB's, forwards and strikers who can finish are the most important players on the club, so they not only make the most money.........they're the hardest to sign because everyone wants them.

Also why most MLS DP's are forwards/goal scorers.

But I do get what you're saying, spread the money around a little more and not be so top heavy, but that club model is easier said than done. Because there's a dozen leagues around the world who want the Miguel Almiron's of the world. It's why he's already making 2.2M at age 24 and Atlanta paid a crazy 13M transfer fee.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

WE NEED IT BAD GARTH!!!

https://www.sounderatheart.com/2018/6/7 ... ul-ruidiaz

 

[hawkfan68]

WE NEED IT BAD GARTH!!!

https://www.sounderatheart.com/2018/6/7 ... ul-ruidiaz

Hmmm...interesting. The article mentions however if the Sounders sign him, he may not be available until August. They could use someone who can play now.

 

[Glasgow Seahawk]

We suck.

Lagerway must be on the hot seat at this point. Especially after alienating the support with his comments last month.

Not signing even an MLS standard forward the moment Morris got hurt is not acceptable. Will Bruin is MLS standard but you are asking a lot of him. Now he's hurt there is nothing...literally.

Dempsey has faded big time this year.

We're terrible to watch right now. Guys like Alex Roldan and Delem are not good enough right now. They are S2 Calibre. Maybe in a year or 2 but not right now.

Schmetzer is going to lose the dressing room soon if this keeps up. I hope we sign the guy mentioned above but its probably too late. We're miles behind this year.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

We suck.

Lagerway must be on the hot seat at this point. Especially after alienating the support with his comments last month.

Not signing even an MLS standard forward the moment Morris got hurt is not acceptable. Will Bruin is MLS standard but you are asking a lot of him. Now he's hurt there is nothing...literally.

Dempsey has faded big time this year.

We're terrible to watch right now. Guys like Alex Roldan and Delem are not good enough right now. They are S2 Calibre. Maybe in a year or 2 but not right now.

Schmetzer is going to lose the dressing room soon if this keeps up. I hope we sign the guy mentioned above but its probably too late. We're miles behind this year.

Accurate synopsis of the season so far.

Our only hope is that once we see V-Rod, Lodeiro and whoever we sign in the transfer window.......along with hopefully healthy minutes from Ozzie that we can regain enough form to squeak into the playoffs.

But Schmetzer's right, it's so bad that at this point every match is a must get points from match.

 

[SeatownJay]

WE NEED IT BAD GARTH!!!

https://www.sounderatheart.com/2018/6/7 ... ul-ruidiaz

Which if more likely if we sign him, he scores 10+ goals in the three months he's here, or he gets injured in his first two weeks?

 

[Glasgow Seahawk]

If he is getting service from the likes of Delem and Alex Roldan probably not many goals...

 

[Sgt. Largent]

If he is getting service from the likes of Delem and Alex Roldan probably not many goals...

I'd be more Lodeiro, V-Rod, Christian Roldan and Dempsey...............if they could all freakin' find the pitch at the same time, and stay there for more than two matches.

 

[hawkfan68]

Darn...the Sounders are stuck with Lagerwey. Was hoping USMNT would have taken him.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/so...art-as-first-usmnt-general-manager/ar-AAyj9yg

 

[Uncle Si]

Ernie has been the shoe in for a few months now.

 

[Smurf]

Guys....we won a game...and scored 2 goals!

 

[Sgt. Largent]

Looks like it's happening

https://www.sounderatheart.com/2018/6/1 ... y-sounders

 

[KitsapGuy]

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